Posted tagged ‘racing’

I wasn’t sure about running this story as in the description they state that this simulator is made for race drivers and thus not for amusement parks but that might not stop an amusement facility with a lot of extra cash on-hand from getting one, so we’ll take a quick look at this. The simulator in question is by Ball Racing Developments Ltd. or BRD for short. They have developed a new Forumla 1 racing simulator using “Simulator control technology that has been designed by racing drivers for racing drivers [and the] most realistic motion cues for professional racing drivers.” I’m not going to list all of the features it has here as you can just as easily read about it on the website for the machine but it’s worth noting that this simulator tries to reproduce the experience down to creating smoke from the tires. At least the chances of you getting to play this are slightly higher than that Ferrari simulator on the back of a huge robot arm but not by much.

I wasn’t sure about running this story as in the description they state that this simulator is made for race drivers and thus not for amusement parks but that might not stop an amusement facility with a lot of extra cash on-hand from getting one, so we’ll take a quick look at this. The simulator in question is by Ball Racing Developments Ltd. or BRD for short. They have developed a new Forumla 1 racing simulator using “Simulator control technology that has been designed by racing drivers for racing drivers [and the] most realistic motion cues for professional racing drivers.” I’m not going to list all of the features it has here as you can just as easily read about it on the website for the machine but it’s worth noting that this simulator tries to reproduce the experience down to creating smoke from the tires. At least the chances of you getting to play this are slightly higher than that Ferrari simulator on the back of a huge robot arm but not by much.

If you aren’t happy with the driving experience that a run o’ the mill arcade driver gives you then there are companies which address that, with crazy setups like we see by Cruden. They had one of these at IAAPA, which I only watched from the sidelines, but it was quite impressive. Little did I realize that these setups are used by both professional drivers and engineers for virtual training but where it was being shown at IAAPA, obviously the company had a desire to move the simulator into the amusement sector. Now they have accomplished just that, with at least at one location in the UK known as the Weston–Super–Mare Grand Pier installing two units to play. The units are known as the Hexatech 3CTR interactive race simulator and this is the first installation of such machines for use by the public. The article that Kevin sent us doesn’t mention what the price will be to play one of these (if you are in the area it’s probably best to save up, just in case). It is also mentioned that to keep things fresh, there are a variety of options on the table for the pier to add extras to the simulators, from “fitting car bodywork or mounting actual vehicles to a motion platform”; as well as upgrades to the software for different kinds of cars and tracks.

At AOU 2010 in February, Taito revealed a 4-player light-gun shooter and a new version of their game Hopping Road called Hopping Road Kids. Hopping Road itself is an original arcade title that has players taking part in pogo-stick racing in a cartoony, cutesy world. Despite it’s appearance (if you’re turned off by cute) it looks like a fun game, there’s nothing quite like it in arcades right now, and it even gives a player a small workout so it’s appealing to fans of games that require physical activity. The downside to any game requiring such activity though is the potential for it to break down so I’d be curious to know how these have fared in the field so far. The first video below shows some footage from the Japanese version of the game but before you write this off as another crazy title no one will see outside of Japan, think again. Hopping Road is available in both Europe and the US, although I do not know of any US locations which have picked it up yet. You can see the English version in the second video below, filmed at the Trocadero in London. Taito also has a page for HR on their English website.

Anyways to get back on track, Taito has announced that the Kids version is now available in Japan, which you can see here. While they have not yet indicated when they will be releasing this internationally, I think it would be an even easier sell to operators since the game already appeals more to kids than adults and with plenty of locations out there already catering to kids with ticket redemption, this offers a nice video-only alternative (although some operators would certainly prefer a redemption version of this). Assuming the kids version also comes with a smaller price tag, that can certainly improve it’s chances.Hopping Road Kids can be linked up to a standard version for four player pogo races between kids and adults

If you love racing simulators and you ever happen to be passing through Lyons, France (or if you live nearby) then a new business that recently opened it’s doors there will certainly hold appear for you. Called I-WAY, the pace has be under construction for the past four years and offers more than racing simulators although the simulators are the primary attraction for spending your hard earned cash there. With 18 6-axis simulators built around full-sized “Formula 1, rally/touring and endurance race cars” you will be spending quite a bit a of cash for the experience, with a single race starting at a mere €60 (or about $73.25USD; I am being facetious when I say “mere” here). You can also get a racing package with ten races for ‘only’ €630, so save up before you head in. At the very least with the quality of simulators that they appear to have, you know that you are going to get a high quality experience out the it.

It seems like London is a getting a lot of arcade love recently with different companies testing out games there. The latest game to show up is IGS’s Speed Driver 2, a 3D racing game that reminds me of Sega’s Initial D. I do like the cabinet design as it’s sleek and flashy – if you have had a chance to play it, comment on what you thought about it below. I know that the 3D stuff is still somewhat new for IGS as they have primarily focused on creating 2D games (including Oriental Legend 2, which I have played and it’s excellent).

Sega’s new drift racing game is now available for purchase in the US, according to several different distributor websites. I know that several readers here have been anticipating this one but in case you have missed out on info concerning Sega’s latest racer, you can click here for the post where we found out about this game back in June; here for a November update; and here for the appearance of the game at IAAPA. As a side note, Sega has changed the color of the cabinet from a mostly green color scheme to blue but we do not know if they have changed much on the game since there weren’t many reports on how this played before hand. The game does employ an IC card system, even here in the US so one can save their progress to a card. I wonder how many more games will be using Sega’s Lindbergh hardware and if they will start giving Europa some more love throughout the rest of this year.

From the looks of it, most distributors are charging about $7400 for the game but it always pays to shop around, even as an operator.